Andrew J. Coulson (Author at The Cato Institute)

Duncan's Race to Nowhere (Scholar Comments)

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Race to the Top is a system that stimulates competition between the states to produce results that the customer (Secretary Duncan) wants, using financial incentives. Déjà vu, anyone?

It's as though Arne Duncan recognizes the merits of free market forces, but rather than faithfully reproducing them in the field of education, he's decided to give us his own reimagining of them.

Here's the problem. There is already 25 years worth of scientific research comparing real free education markets to traditional public school systems. It overwhelmingly finds that markets do a better job of serving families. But we have no evidence at all that Secretary Duncan's newly invented system will do anyone any good.

So why go to all this trouble to reinvent the wheel, when the secretary's own Department of Education has found that an ongoing federal private school choice program—which gets much closer to a genuine education marketplace—is raising students' reading ability by two grade levels after just 3 years of participation?

Has Federal Involvement Improved America's Schools? (Commentary)

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

The No Child Left Behind Act is up for renewal. It costs taxpayers tens of billions of dollars every year but the Obama administration is giving its reauthorization less serious attention than most people pay to their phone bill. Families facing tight budgets actually consider cancelling a service t...

Do Education Tax Credits Save Money? (Commentary)

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EDT

The Arizona Republic recently offered a rough fiscal impact analysis of the state's k-12 education tax credit programs. While the story was clearly a good faith effort, there are problems with its data and assumptions, as well as its headline. The reported analysis finds a savings of up to $3 m...

Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Mr. President (Commentary)

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EDT

President Barack Obama will address the nation's schoolchildren Tuesday, exhorting them to get good grades and stick it out until graduation. Billed by the White House as unprecedented, this speech re-emphasizes the president's avowed commitment to the importance of education, both to the lives of i...

The Case against National School Standards (Commentary)

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EDT

President Obama recently announced a $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" fund that he and Education Secretary Arne Duncan will use, among other things, to "reward states that come together and adopt a common set of standards and assessments." Duncan has championed uniform national standards as a...

Time To End The Monopoly In Education (Commentary)

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

To boost the economy out of the recession, President Obama has chosen to spend an additional $100 billion on public schooling over the next two years. His education secretary, Arne Duncan, is touring the nation to promote this education "stimulus." However well-intentioned, their effort isn't jus...

D.C. Should Create Its Own School Voucher Program (Commentary)

Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 EDT

Thousands rallied in DC earlier this month to save a federal program that helps low-income families afford private schooling. On the same day, President Obama signaled that he opposes school vouchers, but will seek funding so that students already attending private schools may continue to do so thro...